Omaha daily bee., 1887-11-30
PERILS OF THE MINISTRY.
A Commoner on the Pitfalls Before
Salisbury's Government.
THE DISCoNTENT is VOICED.
Conservatives Publicly Condemn Any
Attempt to Frame II Land Pur-
chase Bill - Sullivan and
Mitchell Sign Articles.
The English situation.
lCopuigl,t 1887 bu James Gordon Bennett


lCopHright 1887 bp James Gordon Bennctt.1
LONDON, Nov. % New York Herald
Cable-Special to the BEE. Conservative
discomfort is no longer voiceless. A member
representing Lancashire constituencies, and
another for London suburban district, have
come forward to rebuke the heads of their
party for ever limiting another Irish land pur-
chase bill. l hear these two members Sc
verely criticised by ardent mnisterialists,
but they have merely printed what nearly all
the conservatives are saying privately. Lord
Salisbury may take it amiss, but 1t can do no
harm for him to hear the genuine sentiments
of his party by the way of little variety.
The people who surround him only like to
| tell him what will please him. The plain
truth is not always acceptable in high places,
| yet if there is danger ahead for the leader of
| party, his true friends are those who fairly
| warn him of it. Last year the conservatives
| stirred up much feeling in the country against
| Mr.. Gladstone on the land purchase
bill. Their arguments and pledges
| will be used as missiles against
| them if they vote for any such measure.
| Their cases are, therefore, not unnatural.
| Many of Lord Hartingtons followers are in
| the same plight. If the ministry wish to
! ascertain how near it is possible for them to
approach defeat, they have only to introduce
| bill for buying out the Irish landlords at
| the cost of the state. Signs of the storm are
visible to all who move in political cir.
! cles. The conservatives are very
| loyal to their leaders, but to
ask them to reverse every pledge they have
| given is trying their proverbial docility too
far The spokesmen malcontents may get
the cold shoulder at the Carlton club, the
their party will endorse their views and the
| knowledge of this fact will save the ministry
from blunders similar to that which threw
Mr.. Gladstone out of Office in 1856.
Already hear rumors in well informed
| quarters that the threatened bill will not be
brought in, the want of time being the very
plausible excuse. If parliament is not
to meet till the third week in Febru-
| airy those excuses will hold good to
an extent. The unionists undoubtedly
are having all the best of the contest at pres
ent. When Mr.. Gladstone is silent from any
cause the spirits of all his followers soon flag.
All would be over with home rule if he and
Parnell were incapacitated. They are both
strangely quiet since the Nottingham
speeches Scarcely anything has been heard
from Mr.. Gladstone except the Doping apol-
ogy, which his best friends cannot hear Of
without winking. So shrcwd tactician
must that the autumn agtationS from
which so much was hoped have left him de-
cidedly weaker than before. A man in his
position who does not advance is on the down
| ward track.
| Lacaita's resignation on the ground of COM
| plicty of his party with lawlessness and dis
| order is Il very ominous symptom of increas-
| ing disorganization among the Gladstonians.
| Privately one hears of many cases not actu-
ally brought to the point of resignation. The
| Gladstonians beat the big drum as loud as
ever, but the army is dispirited and the leader
himself must feel depressed when he thinks
of his seventy-nne years and realizes that if
the ministry is not shipwrecked by its
own folly it may still last five years, so that
he might be eighty-four when called to
power again if spared to hear the call.
Looking at all this the many friends of the
ministry urge it strongly to pursue next
season a mastery polcy-get through the
indispensable business quickly and go home
Such is the advice but there must be local
government bill designed to reform ali the
municipalities and local boards throughout
England. Herein lies another danger fol
Lord Salisbury. If the bill does not put the
power of electing guardians and other Of
| nccrS IN thc nanuS OF lne people, tnere VII
be great revolt. Chamberlain will &c
straight over into the opposition; so will
many of his friends, and some of the tories
must join them. This is not an imaginary
danger.
hear that the reactonary element in the
cabinet is beginning to prevail again. AL
fear Lord Randolph Churchill being gone
and that the new bill will put up all sorts o.
little fences to keep the people from con
trolling local affairs. Churchill and Cham
berlain are equally pledged to oppose any
such design but if the ministry stood firm
trusting once more to the union issue to saw,
them would their allies desert them. Glad
stone would be eager to seize this opportunity
but Chamberlain would not be so eager t
help him. The dissenting liberals know
what they have to expect whel
, their old leader climbs to Office
Men like Lord Harrington have no though
for their own position or prospects, but hon
estly dread Gladstones return to power az
the greatest of evils. Such men would proba
bly, combine and at the last moment save tn,
; ministry in spite of itself. The people ma,
deduct from all this that nothing is so poten
for keeping this ministry in Office as the fea
of Mr.. Gladstone getting there. Speaking a.
an impartial observer, j should say that th
| deduction went pretty straight to the mark
| A MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT.